Why the ergonomics of your massage table matters

Didn’t your teachers tell you to work ergonomically to prevent injuries and burn-out? However, without the right tool, ergonomics is just another fancy word. There’s only so much you can do with position and technique, if your table is at the wrong height you have to use your strength instead of your weight.

Wouldn’t it be fun if…

your work was easier and more enjoyable?

your customers were happier because of it?

business was better because of that?

It can be!

Protect yourself

Ergonomics is the only way to protect yourself from burn-out and injury. If you ignore ergonomics, you will pay a price every day you work, exerting more effort for less effect. On the other hand, if you have the right tools, you can do more with less and reap the rewards.

Consider this: on average, once familiarized with their new table, my customers can do one extra session per work day without feeling any more fatigued. Working 4 days per week, 45 weeks per year. At $60 per session, your income will jump by more than $10,000 per year! Over the span of a 20-year career, that will amount to more than $200,000 — that’s extra income earned without exerting extra energy.

And even if a well-designed table only increased your productivity by a fraction of that — just one extra session per week, say, which is underestimating significantly — it would still pay for itself in about a year and net you an extra $2500 every year after that.

Principles of ergonomics

After thirty years' experience as a Rolfer, and working closely with my customers to understand and meet their needs, I have defined three ergonomic considerations to be crucial for a happy, healthy, long and prosperous career in manual medicine:

Manual therapy is hard work, and you can’t fake a good treatment; your clients know the difference. Having an ergonomically-derived work strategy is the only way you can gain some form of physical advantage in your line of work!